Rabbi Joins The Army: The Rabbi Hawkins Mysteries

by Jim Miller

Rabbi Joins the Army “Did you ever hear someone die? I did. 
He was a friend of mine.” And with that, Donald Hawkins ventures into murder, mystery and the military. His nickname is Rabbi, yet he is a bright but quirky private. Rabbi Joins the Army is a humorous military mystery that takes place in the Sixties starring Donald ‘Rabbi’ Hawkins. This book should be picked up for a TV series! –
An Amazon Reviewer Praise for Rabbi Joins the Army I loved the miscreant character of "Rabbi" Hawkins. Rabbi stumbles along from one mishap to another, in pursuit of justice further to his friend's murder--and incidentally, also pursues a way to get out of the army! I'd recommend to all and any who enjoy a mystery, spiced with puckish humour and a knowledgeable military background provided.Rabbi was railroaded into joining the Canadian Army. He had a choice - jail or the army? He chose the army, and ironically now his focus is on putting other people in jail, with far from orthodox methods. –
An Amazon Reviewer He is determined to get himself thrown out or released any way he can; short of desertion. But before that can happen –‘Rabbi’ and his buddy, Beau, get involved in a series of killings. Follow him in his humourous introduction into Canadian army life circa 1964. More Praise... Jim Miller is a genius for painting mind pictures with words and he does so in his Rabbi Hawkins Series. Joining up seemed a good choice for Rabbi when the time came for him to decide his future - jail or the army. Other than he's constantly in the mucky-muck's bad graces and getting his camouflaged butt into trouble, the army role fits him perfectly. Murders follow him and his knack of solving difficult cases will keep you amused and entertained. –
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418 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 9, 2013

Reviews

[cyberwyrd · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book had been on my Kindle for years before I got around to reading it the other day. I’d sort of nibbled at the edges but never could get past the opening. Then, I downloaded the fourth in the series, just because I wanted to complete the set, and decided it was time to get around to it.
And am I ever glad I did. This author has a unique voice, and creates complex and likable characters. I liked the unpretentiousness, the gallows humour, the way it completely immerses the reader in the setting.

[Lee Gabel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to preface this review by saying that I wanted to rate it 3.5 stars, but there is no provision for half a star.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. I have no military background and do not normally read military-based books. So I did appreciate the detailed descriptions of military life, buildings, equipment, attire, rank, etc. However, at times the detail was overwhelming and slowed down the story. The central characters are all well conceived. I could picture them all in my head easily enough. The superior officer characters fell a little flat, in both mannerisms and speech; they seemed a lot alike and as a result they were hard to differentiate. The story felt a little long for a mystery (140K words) and feel it might have worked better as a shorter book. Plus some details at the end were wrapped up very quickly and conveniently. Perhaps that's just my inexperience in the genre or perhaps another editing pass would help.

In the end, if you're a fan of military mystery stories, you'll enjoy this one.